Night Verses are a heavy post rock band who have recently gone instrumental after the departure of their vocalist Douglas Robinson. Originally formed in 2012, they went on to sign with Equal Vision Records and share the stage with acts such as Converge, letlive., The Chariot and more.

While the loss of a vocalist might break other bands, Night Verses’ live show, which they’ve always been highly regarded for, has only grown more intense and dynamic; opening up a lane for each instrumentalist to shine.

Drummer Aric Improta is world-renowned for his technical prowess and insanely high energy during performances. He’s taken part in Guitar Center’s Drum Off competition andRolling Stone has even covered his gymnastic approach to drumming. In his free time Aric is also directing a new project with multiple drummers playing on one song, including contributions from Protest The Hero, Dillinger Escape Plan, and letlive.

Learn more about Night Verses in the following All Access interview:

Happy New Year! Thanks for your time for this All Access interview! Where does this interview you today? What is one song that you are loving right now? What is a song that you all disagree about loving right now?(REILLY) Thanks for having us. We’re doing this interview in our van driving from LA to Chicago. We all always agree on listening to Tool, At The Drive In and DJ Shadow. I was listening to some weird music driving today that I’m sure Nick and Aric would disagree about ‘loving’, but they were nice enough to not tell me.

So first things first, what all are you most excited about for this year? Did any of you make New Year Resolutions? Care to share any of them with us?(REILLY) I think we’re collectively most excited about releasing our new album. We don’t have any distinct New Year Resolution other than pushing this record and continuing to grow as artists and people.

Can you recall the moment when you all thought you could be in a band together? Was it hard to come up with a name that you all thought fit your sound and who you are?(REILLY)Nick, Aric and I have been playing together for over 15 years actually. Aric and I first wrote and played songs together in middle school and Nick and Aric started a band together in high school. We all joined together to form a different band soon after that. We went through different lineups and band names but Nick, Aric and I never stopped playing together. Band names are always hard, but we had a distinct direction we wanted to go with this band and sound in particular, and because we usually agree on things stylistically it wasn’t hard for us to agree once we came up with the right name.

How did you come to the decision to go instrumental after your lead singer Douglas Robinson left the band? Has it been an easy/smooth transition? How has it affected your live shows? Do you have any plans to find a new vocalist for the band in the future?(ARIC)That aspect of the transition hasn’t been too difficult. We were an instrumental band before hand and have always enjoyed the challenge of making as much sound as possible between the three of us. That’s the main reason we started using the electronic drum pads and never added a second guitar player. Those limitations have continuously forced us to come up with creative solutions to keep the composition from feeling empty. If anything, our previous work with a singer led us to hold back at times to give him room to write effectively.

What can you tease our readers about some of the music that you will be releasing later this month? What has been like recording this new music? (ARIC) I can honestly say it’s the most we’ve pushed ourselves to improve as musicians. I think in previous releases, we felt comfortable with who we were but wanted to venture into different contextual or emotional sides of our sound. Making the process different each time to see what we would end up with. In this case, it was us writing material that often times felt beyond our playing ability, and then figuring out how to pull it off. Working with Will at Graphic Nature studios was awesome, he recognized how much we were trying to push ourselves and helped us capture the best performances possible. It was also easy because our band can have some pretty obscure/specific influences and Will was really familiar with all the artists we grew up on, so he was good at effectively channeling their atmospheres/tones when we wanted to do so.

Aric, can you talk about the new project that you have developed with multiple drummers playing on one song? Where did the idea for this come from? (ARIC) The upcoming video series I have with multiple drummers is roughly titled the “Interpretations Project.” It features 14 of my favorite drummers and myself all giving our different interpretations of common musical phrases (Groove, Intensity, Creativity and Chops). I have this ongoing (possibly life long) obsession with disproving that there is a “right way” to create art and that extends to all facets of the subject be it musical, visual, whatever. So with this idea, I wanted to get 14 amazing drummers to display their different interpretations of the 4 phrases listed earlier and show multiple ways to give rhythmic life to these concepts and prove that there isn’t one “correct” way to groove, be creative, etc. And then to add an extra level of musical depth and context, I asked Nick and Reilly to compose music around the drummers. And since they are the most down musicians I know, they took the time to learn literally every note these drummers played and write over it. I feel very fortunate to have so many talented friends willing to contribute to the project and I’m stoked to be able to share the results.

Who would you love to work with in the future? Who are some of your favorite artists right now? What would be a dream collaboration for this group? (ARIC) The list is pretty long, between singers, musicians and producers. Some would just be fun because they are friends and some would be for the learning experience more then the actual product. I think working on compositions with DJ Shadow, Hans Zimmer or Brian Eno would be super interesting. I’d love to get a glimpse at their approach to tension & release, structure and just over all process when it comes to building a song from scratch.

Where do you think you are all happiest- on stage performing, in the studio recording music or elsewhere? (ARIC) I think this answer is different for all of us. I (Aric) am happiest writing/jamming at a practice space. When the ideas are first coming to fruition. I love that, although playing live is a close second.

We are living in a crazy and at times rough world right now so I am curious how you think being in this band gives you the most joy in life today? Do you think that new music being created today is going to reflect these difficult times? (REILLY)Being in this band is one of the only things that can actually keep my attention enough to not go crazy fixating on how ridiculous the state of culture has become. The fact that music can and this band has been able to do that for me for so long is a testament on how much it brings me joy in life. I think it’s unfortunate, but a lot of the music that is being created to reflect what’s happening today is being overshadowed by formulaic ‘hit’ songs that are vessels for money more so than honest artistic reflection.That being said, I still think there is music being created that honestly reflects the times, it’s just more of a personal responsibility to go deeper and search for those artists with those messages if that’s what you want to hear.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs? What do you hope they take away from one of your shows?(REILLY) I want people to feel something different. Hopefully something positive, but I just want everything that we put into this music to be translated in the form of personal feeling to the listener.

About the Author

Leah Brungardt (recently married) joined All Access Music Group in August 2011 and has been enjoying getting to know a new side of the music industry ever since. Having worked to promote radio stations in the past, seeing what makes a successful radio hit has been a thrill. As a lover of all genres of music, working at All Access Music Group is a perfect fit for Leah, and she loves learning about up and coming musicians as well. Most of her friends have come to rely on her for new music.
Leah grew up overseas attending American international schools and attended The University of Arizona, where she earned a BA in Music Management. She roots for the Wildcats every chance she gets.
Leah has been able to work at a variety of music-related jobs including several internships at small independent labels, ClearChannel Radio and Journal Broadcasting Group. She also spent time working retail at a store that specializes in vinyl, which was a lot of fun for her. Her favorite movie is Empire Records, so that makes perfect sense.